Woodworking blog entries tagged with 'refurbishing'

Just used the Bartley line of Gel Stains and Gel Varnish.
After reading a number of articles in American Woodworker, Wood, and other such woodworking magazines written by many independent professional finishers, they recommend the Bartley line of Gel Stains and Gel Varnish. Bartley were sold to Seagrave Coatings Corporation who now manufacture the Bartley line using the original formulas.
Seagrave has very few distributors/dealers that specifically cater to the small woodworking shop or...

I spent several months researching power tools, comparing, shopping around, seeing them in person, and pricing it all out. But I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that going down this road was going to be a constant treadmill of buying accessories and aftermarket jigs. Expensive jigs. And lots of accessories.
There was another problem coming about on the horizon: my son was born. That by itself isn’t the problem. However, for the first time ever during a purchase decision...

So for the past 20 or so years I’ve had the below Rockwell 4” jointer. I bought it for $50 off the carpenter that added the second floor to my home. It needed a little work, but for the most part it served me well over the years.
The downside, obviously, was the short bed and only a 4” width. So I’ve been searching for a long time for a Craigslist special. Then I saw a post for a 6” Delta jointer for only $100. I then noticed the author’s commen...

This project actually began at the library, long before I had ever even laid eyes on the Trustworthy plane you will see in the pictures below. I had recently graduated from College, and had been longing to engage in some meaningful ‘extracurricular’ activities. Some of my hobbies had been shelved for nearly 7 year (2 years as the LDS missionary, plus 4 years of undergraduate study, and a year of courtship). Woodworking was one of them – so one of the first things I did wh...

Cleaning up a 7×12 Goodell Pratt bench lathe.
Some before/after pics.
The previous owner (owners?) made a replacement tool rest from scrap 2×4’s and angle iron. It looks janky but is perfectly servicable. In the short term I’ll make something that looks nicer but in the long term I hope to find an original replacement.
Oddly, they chose to paint over the original black with green but painted the tool rest a nearly matching red. The vibe I get is that the...

A lathe has been in the back of my mind for some years and in the last year my love of vintage tools and machinery has really taken off so when I saw this 80+ year old Goodell Pratt bench lathe I had to have it. Luckily I got it for only a few bucks more than it cost new but unfortunately most of the original accessories are missing as is the original banjo and tool rest but then if it had those things it would have been 4-5X the price.
The 125 was GP’s midi size lathe and was meant ...

Spent some time today, half waiting on the Mail Carrier to drop off a package, the other in re-furbishing the contents. You know it will be ugly, when it comes in the door, double bagged!
Kind of rusty, not too hateful, though…
Ok, first thing ( after burning the bag it came in) was to tear it all down to just a pile of parts. Usually have a small box handy, because all them smaller parts like to take off on me…
I kept going until i had a cleaned of base, and a pile o...

I was making replacement handles for my chisels. I tried the sockets and tang versions with good results. I got some old chisel handles that had leather washers at the other end. I was curious if I could make them too. I did the usual searches and had found great information. Since several LJ members is curious about the how they were cut, I have decided that I’ll post the process here.
How the leather washers look really desn’t matter. It is an intermediate step of the chisel handle...

I have been looking for a jointer for some time now, wanting a quality product on a budget. I’ve nibbled and sniffed a few, but just couldn’t pull the trigger (sorry for mixing metaphors, for those who care about such things…).
This past weekend I finally did. I was going to post the question of how I did, but the realized it doesn’t matter. I know how much I spent and I’m at peace with it.
In the way of details, I bought a 10 year old Grizzly 6” z se...